I cannot believe that it is just a month until I leave for my first French bicycling adventure of the year to La Velodyssee, the Atlantic Coast route. This is a route I have wanted to explore for the last two years, but I was never able to go there before the busy summer season. So this year, everything is a go. In preparing for my trip, I referred back to an old post with some of the best trip planning resources to the area. I found it so helpful, I am reprinting it for any of you who may be considering a bike trip to the Atlantic Coast. I will expand this list after my trip and all of the resources will be included in my e-guides of the area.
The most important resource for planning is a great map. I prefer Michelin maps to the IGN map series. I find the Michelin maps much easier to read and plan from. Unfortunately I have yet to find a resource in the US that sells the most current Michelin maps which include “Pistes cyclables et Voies Vertes” or marked cycle paths and greenways. Many of the online map stores carry 5 year or older versions of the French maps. Since most of the cycle paths and greenways in France have been developed in the last 7-10 years, they are not contained on the older maps. I purchase these maps on my trips to France and all have the wording”Pistes cyclables et Voies Vertes” listed in red on the front of each map. If you order a Michelin map online, be sure you ask how old the map is and if it has the cycle path and greenways listing. These new maps cost 4,50Euro in Europe, about $7.00, so if you see French Department/Local maps advertised online for under that price, you will know that they are probably outdated maps.
Here are the specific maps for biking the Atlantic Coast of France:
Michelin #324 Charente and Charente-Maritime
Michelin #335 Gironde and Landes
IGN #145 Bordeaux, Arcachon
IGN #138 Charente Maritime
If you are unable to purchase any of these maps before your trip, you can secure regional and/or local maps from the tourism office of the area you will be visiting. Most of the tourism offices have extensive general information online, but most will also send a small amount of printed material via mail by request. Most of the French regional and department tourist offices have English versions of their websites, but some smaller areas may only have French versions. If that is the case, you can either use Google’s Babelfish to translate the page for you, or you can simply search for bicycling information, looking for several keywords:
Les location de velo Locations of bikes, places to rent
Louer un velo Rent a bicycle
Cartes de bicyclettes Bicycling maps
Consulter nos Brochures Brochures that you can normally download, including bike maps and itineraries
Documentation Always look here on the tourist websites because just as above, this is where you will find all the materials you will need to plan your trip
Here are the best tourism links for biking the Atlantic Coast of France:
French National Tourism, for the Aquitaine Region(for the Gironde and Landes Departments)
French National Tourism for Poitou Charente Region (for the Charente-Maritime Department)
Regional Tourism Office of Poitou Charente
Tourism Office of Charente-Maritime
Ile d’ Oleron and the Bassin de Marennes
Regional Tourism Office of Aquitaine
Beach town of Biscarrosse Tourism
I hope that this information will help with your trip planning to the Atlantic Coast of France. There is so much to see and do in this area, one could spend the entire summer there and only sample the many miles of cycle paths. Let me know if you have any websites that were particularly helpful to you in your trip planning.
